Thursday, July 3, 2008

The Shortest Soccer Players in the World

This is a list of the shortest soccer players that are currently playing professionally around the world. The players listed range from 5ft 1in (1.55m) to a maximum of 5ft 5in (1.65m). For the majority of the list, I used the heights listed at the ESPNsoccernet player profile pages. If the player's height was not listed at ESPN, I generally used the official club pages. In the few cases where the height was not listed in either of those locations, I used the wikipedia height. All heights are listed in meters.

Diego Buonanotte - River Plate

Height (m)

Player

Club

Nationality

Position

1.55

Jafal Rashed

Al Sadd (Qatar)

Qatar

MF

1.58

Élton Jose Xavier Gomes

Al Nasr (Saudi Arabia)

Brazil

MF

1.60

Madson

América de Natal (Brazil)

Brazil

MF

1.60

Maximiliano Moralez

Racing (Argentina)

Argentina

MF

1.60

Levi Porter

Leicester City (England)

England

MF

1.61

Diego Buonanotte

River Plate (Argentina)

Argentina

MF

1.61

Elgabry Rangel

Tecos (Mexico)

Mexico

DF

1.62

Carlinhos Bala

Sport Recife (Brazil)

Brazil

FW

1.62

Christian Lara

Barcelona SC (Ecuador)

Ecuador

MF

1.62

Juan Cuevas

Gimnasia (Argentina)

Argentina

FW

1.62

Franco Niell

Argentinos Juniors (Argentina)

Argentina

FW

1.62

Joãozinho

Levski Sofia (Bulgaria)

Brazil

MF

1.63

Mohammad Al Shalhoub

Al Hilal (Saudi Arabia)

Saudi Arabia

MF

1.63

Pablo Piatti

Estudiantes (Argentina)

Argentina

MF

1.63

Christian Bermúdez

Atlante (Mexico)

Mexico

MF

1.63

Zinha

Toluca (Mexico)

Brazil/Mexico

FM

1.63

Bakari Koné

OGC Nice (France)

Cote d'Ivoire

FW

1.64

Danilinho

Atlético Mineiro (Brazil)

Brazil

MF

1.64

Ludovic Giuly

A.S.Roma (Italy)

France

MF

1.64

Sebastian Giovinco

Juventus (Italy)

Italy

MF

1.64

José Joel González

CF Monterrey (Mexico)

Mexico

MF

1.64

Maximiliano Biancucchi

Flamengo (Brazil)

Argentina

MF/FW

1.64

Allan Alemán

Liberia Mia (Costa Rica)

Costa Rica

FW

1.64

Alejandro Gómez

Arsenal da Sarandi (Argentina)

Argentina

MF

1.64

Maximiliano Estévez

Racing Club (Argentina)

Argentina

FW

1.65

Aaron Lennon

Tottenham (England)

England

MF

1.65

Emiliano Insúa

Liverpool (England)

Argentina

DF

1.65

Massimo Murdocca

Queensland Roar (Australia)

Australia

MF

1.65

Alex Nimo

Real Salt Lake (USA)

Liberia

FW

1.65

José Francisco Torres

Pachuca (Mexico)

Mexico/USA

MF

1.65

Luis Montes

Pachuca (Mexico)

Mexico

MF

1.65

Martín Bravo

San Martin de San Juan (Argentina)

Argentina

FW

1.65

Tita

Ankaraspor (Turkey)

Brazil

MF

1.65

Milton Núñez

Olimpia (Honduras)

Honduras

FW

1.65

Rodrigo Ruiz

Tecos (Mexico)

Chile

FW

1.65

Naji Majrashi

Al Shabab (Saudi Arabia)

Saudi Arabia

FW

1.65

Erivélton

Atlético Paranaense (Brazil)

Brazil

DF

1.65

Jadílson

Curzeiro (Brazil)

Brazil

DF

1.65

Paulinho

Maccabi Haifa (Israel)

Brazil

MF

1.65

Vitor Júnior

Santos (Brazil)

Brazil

MF

1.65

Boris Sagredo

Colo-Colo (Chile)

Chile

MF

1.65

Miroslav Ivanov

Levski Sofia (Bulgaria)

Bulgaria

MF

Depending on which number you believe, Élton Jose Xavier Gomes may be the shortest player. He is listed at 1.53m on wikipedia, 1.56m at this Corinthians site, and in this Reuters article he is listed at 1.58m.

I didn't find any goalkeepers that met the criteria for this list, but Oscar Perez Rojas of UANL Mexico came the closest at 1.69m (5ft7in).

Interesting that more than half of these short players are from Argentina, Brazil, or Mexico.

There are certainly discrepencies in these players listed heights, depending on what site you're looking at. If you have any corrections or additional players I can add to the list, please feel free to let me know.

Funny thing is, the best players ever are Maradona and Romario with 1.65m and 1.67m.

I think the reason why short players occur often in south America, is they get chances to prove themselves. In Europe you have a little chance to be a professional player, as they disqualify you simply based on length.

But if you look at Maradona, Romario and Messie, these are the best players ever and yet they're shorter than 1.70 m.

but they really look dwarfish though on the field and on tv, esp. when their body is too built, like that pictured of 'diego buonanotte' above with towering giants. at least everyone is given a chance to play and get noticed based on talent and skills, and not discriminated because of lack of "average" height. that's why i love this sport!